Starship: Classifications
Carriers All races provide their fleets with organic fighter support. Cruisers fit a handful in the space between the interior pressure hulls and exterior armor. Dreadnoughts have a hangar deck within the hull. Humans – who had only recently "graduated" from surface to space combat – were the first to build ships wielding fighters as the main armament. In fleet combat, carriers stay clear of battle, launching fighters bearing disruptor torpedoes. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship; if a carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone very wrong. It is possible to recover and rearm fighters during combat, though most carriers seal the flight deck and try to stay out of the way. The flight deck is essentially a corridor through the armor and into the heart of the vessel. A single well-placed torpedo is enough to gut a carrier. Alliance carriers are named after great leaders, artists, and intellectuals from human history and are also given the prefix 'CV#', for 'Carrier Vehicle' followed by the sequential number for which it was built. Typical Carriers Cruisers Cruiser-weight starships are the standard combat unit encountered away from large naval bases, the "poor bloody infantry" of most fleets. Nimble scouting frigates have neither the punch nor the stamina to stand up to serious combat, and the mighty dreadnoughts are a strategic resource, carefully hoarded and committed to the most critical battles. Cruisers perform routine independent "show the flag" patrols in settled systems and lead flotillas of frigates in small engagements, such as pirate suppression campaigns. In major fleet engagements, cruiser squadrons support the dreadnought battle line by screening their flanks against enemies attempting to maneuver for a main gun "bow shot" from their vulnerable broadsides. Alliance cruisers are named after cities of Earth and are also given the prefix 'CR#', for 'Cruiser' followed by the sequential number for which it was built. Typical Cruisers Known Cruisers None Dreadnought The ultimate arbiter of space warfare, the dreadnought employs millions of tons of metal, ceramic, and polymer in the projection of firepower against an enemy vessel of like ability. No sane commander would face a dreadnought without a dreadnought of his or her own. A dreadnought's power lies in the length of its main gun. Dreadnoughts range from 800 meters to one kilometer long, with main guns of commensurate length. An 800-meter mass-accelerator is capable of accelerating one 20 kg slug to a velocity of 4025 km/s (1.3% of light speed) every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of 38 kilotons of TNT, enough to destroy the infrastructure of a mid-sized city and kill half a million people. Because of air friction, planets with atmospheres do not feel a slug's full devastation. Atmospheric drag reduces impact force by 20% per Earth atmosphere of air. At present, the turian fleet possesses 39 dreadnoughts, the asari 20, and the salarians 16. Each of the human Alliance's eight dreadnoughts is named for terrestrial mountains and are also given the prefix 'DK'# or'DE#', for 'Dreadnaught Kilimanjaro or Everest' followed by the sequential number for which it was built. Typical Dreadnoughts Known Dreadnoughts Systems Alliance Everest Class DE3 Elbrus DE1 Everest DE2 Fuji Kilimanjaro Class DK4 Aconcagua DK1 Kilimanjaro DK5 Orizaba DK2 Tai Shan DK3 Shasta Known Carriers None Fighters Fighters are single-pilot combat small craft. They are lightweight enough that they can be economically fitted with powerful element zero cores, making them capable of greater acceleration and sharper maneuvers than starships. Kinetic barrier shields changed starship battles from short, vicious bloodbaths to extended, indecisive slugging matches. Only the main gun of a dreadnought could punch a mass accelerator slug through the barriers of an opposing dreadnought. This changed with the development of the fighter-launched mass disruptor torpedo, a short-ranged weapon that can penetrate kinetic barriers to destroy their projector assemblies. Starship GUARDIAN defenses must be overwhelmed through swarm tactics. Fighter groups can take heavy casualties pressing their torpedo attacks home. Once fighter-launched torpedoes have crippled an enemy's barriers, the mass accelerators on frigates and cruisers can make short work of them. Interceptors are a type of fighter optimized to attack other fighters, with no ability to damage starships. Interceptors are used to screen friendly units from incoming fighter attack. Typical Fighters Known Fighters None Frigates Frigates are light escort and scouting vessels. They often have extensive GUARDIAN systems to provide anti-fighter screening for capital ships, and carry a squad of marines for security and groundside duty. Unlike larger vessels, frigates are able to land on planets. The most important role filled by frigates is reconnaissance. Sensors, unlike ships and communications employing the mass effect, are limited to the speed of light, therefore a stationary observer can detect a vessel a light year away only when its light year arrives a year later. Because faster than-light attackers always arrive before defenders can detect them with luminal sensors, attackers can always surprise defenders. For defense, fleets surround themselves with spheres of scouting frigates scanning for enemy ships and transmitting warnings to the main body. Frigates achieve high FTL cruise speeds because of their high-performance drives. They also have proportionally larger thrusters and lighter design mass, allowing them greater maneuverability. In combat, speed and maneuverability make frigates immune to long-range fire of larger vessels. In fleet combat, frigates are organized into "wolf pack" flotillas of four to six. Wolf packs speed through enemy formations, hunting enemy vessels whose kinetic barriers have been taken down by fighter-launched disruptor torpedoes. The wolf pack circle-strafes vulnerable targets, using their superior speed and maneuverability to evade return fire. Alliance frigates are named for great battles in human history and are given the prefix 'SSV', for 'Systems Alliance space vehicle'. Typical Frigates Known Frigates Systems Alliance SSV Bunkerhill SSV Gettysburg SSV Normandy SSV Waterloo SSV Yorktown Freighter This most commonly seen freighter is the Kowloon Class--a basic freighter starship originally designed (and mostly used) by humans. Each ship is built on a standard design, for easy mass production. They generally carry a large cargo bay with smaller compartments for additional passenger haulage, but their design means these compartments can be swapped or exchanged to customize the ship. For example, the MSV Fedele exchanged passenger compartments for specialist biological research modules. Kowloon-class ships are hardy but carry little armaments and only a standard engine core. Unfortunately this makes them easy prey for privateers or mercenary bands looking for a quick score. Most are given the prefix 'MSV', for 'merchant space vehicle'. Typical Freighter Known Freighters None Category: ME:N7 Starships